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Jacksonville Transit bus crash sends one to hospital

Daily News (Jacksonville, NC)

June 01--A City of Jacksonville Transit bus started a chain-reaction collision that sent one person to the hospital.

Herschel Mintz, 74, an Orange Line Jacksonville Transit bus driver, was traveling east on Country Club Road Friday around 11:45 a.m. As he approached the Western Boulevard intersection he allegedly failed to slow down, causing his bus to collide with a white Ford F-150, which then rear ended a 1999 Dodge pickup truck hauling a boat, and the pickup then rear-end a third vehicle, a GMC truck, according to Jacksonville Police Department's Traffic Motor Unit Sgt. Phillip Williams.

Williams said the three trucks were stopped at the red light when the bus hit.

Williams said Mintz will be cited for failure to reduce speed.

Mintz is an employee of MV Transportation, Inc., which is the contractor the city uses for Jacksonville Transit, according to Anthony Prinz, transportation services director for the City of Jacksonville.

Prinz said cost estimates to repair the bus are unknown as of Friday afternoon. Prinz wrote in an email reply: "It is too early to estimate the cost of repairs. Once the vehicle is returned to the bus lot it will be evaluated by our Fleet Maintenance Division and insurance company to determine estimated cost of repairs and appropriate course of action."

The bus was not carrying passengers at the time of the crash, Williams said. The driver of the GMC truck was transported to Onslow Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The drivers of the other vehicles including Mintz were uninjured, according to Williams.

The collision took more than an hour to clear with JPD officers detouring eastbound Country Club Road through the adjacent Walgreen's parking lot. Westbound traffic on Country Club Road and Western Boulevard traffic in both directions were not affected.